On 2003-06-13 14:31, TikiMaxton wrote:Who was it who told the horror story of his thwarted attempt to replicate the BB tiki necklace? I found myself recounting that story just yesterday...

That would be me... here is a reprint...

"So I guess this is a good time and place to tell the tale. Back around 94' I was watching a Nickelodeon documentary about the Brady bunch. In this was a segment titled "Taboo" in which they talked about the oh so famous Tiki of the BB episodes, It was "found" in episode 72, "Hawaii bound". wreaked havoc in episode 73, "Pass the Taboo" and met it's final demise in episode 74, "The Tiki Caves". They showed a short still photo close up of the Tiki hanging around peters neck. I was stoked. Ever since I started Tiki King, I was always being asked if I made that Tiki, I always chuckled, "No way man! It's TABOO! Doodle-oodle-O!" But this documentary was like a sign. It was time to make that Tiki. So using the still as a guide, I began sketching out the design. Wellll...That night I was riding my Vespa, and got a Flat tire. not to big a deal, the vespa has a spare tire with it. But it was odd. I had actually never had a flat before. but we were in a parking lot, and it only took a moment. It was a minor inconvenience. So a few days later, I finished the sketch. That night I ran out of gas in one of the worst parts of town, and the nearest station was about three blocks away, UPHILL! and we were late getting somewhere already. So as I am pushing the Vespa along, trying to ignore the pimps, pushers, and other denezins of the back alleys I say to my wife, "Man, I must have angered the gods, or carved the wrong Tiki or something...""it's that Brady Tiki" she laughed, "It's Taboo!" So I stopped working on the Tiki for a couple weeks. Ah, but the temptation was too great. I was in a lull at work, so I got out a piece of wood, got out my sketch and started. I did a quick outline on the block of wood, and started carving. No sooner had I shaved off a few chips of wood when I heard a scream. My boss was yelling franticly for me to come up front, and as I got to the door I was met by a wall of muddy water that quickly flooded our shop. Because directly in front of our shop, a water main from 1906 had burst, and was now sending up a geyser of water. There was water, sand, mud and cobble stones flying into the air everywhere. Oddly enough the flood hardly touched the two stores next to us, but filled ours with two feet of water. After two weeks of lost business and gruesome cleanup, ( the place had to be gutted, all the drywall removed. It was a mess) I decided that the Tiki and the sketch had to go. We ceremoniously burned the drawing, and tossed the Tiki into the storm drain. As we stood in a moment of silence, a man walked up. "So how much did you loose?" he asked. We didn't really know. $10,000, $20,000 we hadn't added it up. He introduced himself as a representative of the city, and told us that we would be reimbursed for ALL of our losses. To simply fill out some forms and send them in once we had totaled it up.
So is that Tiki Taboo? hard to say. Will I ever reproduce it? hmmmmm. 1st curse, a flat tire. Not a big deal. Second, being late and running out of gas in a bad area, ten times worse than the first. Then the flood. Each one progressively much worse that the previous. I do not intend on finding out what would be next. It is all true. If you ever come for a visit, I can show you the tape of the documentary, which also was the tape that was in the VCR when they showed the flood on the evening news. So now right after the Brady documentary, is the news footage of the spouting water main, with us in the background trying to get stuff to higher ground. doodle-ooodle-ooo!"